


Surrealism

by tosca1390



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-29
Updated: 2012-10-29
Packaged: 2017-11-17 07:37:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tosca1390/pseuds/tosca1390
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>God, she was in love with Luke. And because of that, she was bringing him to her parents’ vow renewal. Seriously, her life felt like a parallel universe right now.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surrealism

**Author's Note:**

> Missing moment from _Come Home_.

*

“We’ve dropped into a parallel universe, right? With bearded Spocks and President Gore and Kenny Rogers Roasters on every corner?” Lorelai said after a moment of shocked silence. 

She and Rory stood in the driveway outside the elder Gilmores’ house, huddled together for warmth. Lorelai hadn’t been to a dinner so surreal in quite a while (and that was saying something, after all the hellish, surrealist moments she’d had in her parents’ house). 

“I don’t get why you’re acting so spastic about this. It’s what we wanted, right?” Rory said, face alight with pleasure. “They’re back together.”

“Sure, yeah, I guess,” Lorelai muttered, toeing at the brick with her shiny heels. “But—renewing their vows? And being Emily’s maid of honor? It’s—“

“Come on, it’s nice. It’s sweet. It’s—“

“It’s bizarre,” Lorelai cut in. “Me as her maid of honor? There’s something going on, something fishy. I smell blood in the water. We’ve got to get a bigger boat.”

“Mom, seriously. I think she’s trying to do a nice thing.”

Lorelai snorted. “Nice like how she treated Luke when he came over for dinner?”

“Mom.”

Huffing, Lorelai watched her breath in the air. “This vow renewal is going to be hellish. No! Not even _ish_. It’s going to be hell.”

Rolling her eyes, Rory pushed her curls from her face. “Can we walk please? It’s cold. And why is it going to be hell?”

Lorelai slipped an arm around Rory’s slim shoulders, walking them towards their respective cars. “It’ll be like every other Richard-and-Emily event, complete with all those people who I hate and who hate me,” Lorelai said darkly. “And I’ll have to subject Luke to all of them, _and_ a suit. Ooh, speaking of! Want to come home with Mommy for pie? You can watch Luke’s face change color while I tell him where he has to squire me next weekend.”

“Luke?”

“Yes, Luke. My man friend. The Tim McGraw to my Faith Hill. And as such, he is required to serve as my buffer at an event just like this,” Lorelai said, raising her brows as she stopped by Rory’s car. “Why?”

Rory shrugged. “I didn’t think he’d come.”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

“Because you’ve never brought your boyfriends to any of Grandma and Grandpa’s other things.”

Lorelai opened her mouth, then shut it again, pursing her lips. “That’s not true,” she said after a moment. 

“Yes, it is. Want me to check my freakish detailed journals?” Rory teased. 

Thinking on it for a moment, Lorelai had to relent. “Fine. Okay. But, this is Luke. He’s… different,” she finished lamely, a weird tightness lingering in her chest. “It’s different.”

Rory’s face softened as she smiled. “Oh, Mom.”

“Oh, stop it,” Lorelai grumbled. “You said it yourself: if I’m with Luke, I’m _with_ Luke.”

“I did,” Rory said with a triumphant grin.

“And I am _with_ Luke, which means he is _with_ me, and he has to be subjected to Gilmore events,” she said quickly.

“It’s the ultimate test for him, really,” Rory said, leaning against the car. “Because you know Grandma will be all over your wedding.”

Coughing, Lorelai put a hand to her chest. “ _Wedding_?”

Rory raised a brow. “You’re bringing him to their vow renewal. You don’t think it’s going that way?”

Lorelai could only stare at her daughter, blinking. She had a fleeting glimpse of looking at herself in the floor-length mirror in the guest bedroom her mother had turned into a bridal shop, the cream colored satin of that wedding dress soft under her fingertips. It had seemed like a flight of fancy in the moment; but there had been something else behind it, an impulse she hadn’t wanted to corral. She wanted the middle, the whole package; she wanted it with Luke. 

“When did you get so smart, kid?” Lorelai asked finally. 

Shrugging, Rory smiled. “That whole Yale thing does wonders, I guess.”

With a sigh, Lorelai kissed Rory’s cheek. “Follow me back?”

“Absolutely. There’s always room for pie,” Rory said cheerily. She seemed in a much better mood than when she’d arrived this evening; Lorelai supposed she could thank her parents’ reconciliation for that. 

In the dark quiet of the Jeep as she drove the familiar route home, Lorelai turned on her favorite 80’s girl band mix CD and belted out the Bangles and Bananarama with gusto, trying to block out the thoughts circling in her brain on repeat. Weddings and dresses and Luke and being all in and mashed potatoes and a caterpillar’s funeral and ice and borrowing trucks and Yale mattresses and thirty-thousand dollars and yes of course she wanted to marry Luke. She was in love with Luke.

God, she was _in love_ with Luke. And because of that, she was bringing him to her parents’ vow renewal. Seriously, her life felt like a parallel universe right now.

She and Rory met at the diner just as Kirk and Lulu were hurrying out (it was their favorite date spot, after all). Lorelai sighed as she and Rory crossed the threshold. “The things we subject loved ones to,” she muttered. 

“Rethinking the whole thing, aren’t you?” Rory said, more than a little amusement in her voice. 

“No. I feel bad for him, though,” Lorelai said as they sat at their usual table. She craned her neck for a sighting of the man himself. “He didn’t have the best time with my parents the last time around.”

“Well, there’ll be at least one hundred and fifty other people to distract them with this time around. He’ll hopefully escape scot-free,” Rory said sagely. 

Lorelai perked up at that. “And an open bar! Everyone will be sloshed! We’ll all be saved once again by the healing powers of alcohol.”

“Who’s been saved by the healing powers of alcohol?” Luke asked as he came up behind them, setting coffee cups in front of them and filling them to the brim. Lorelai looked up and smiled at him brightly. He looked rested and happy—or as happy as he usually did after a day on his feet and serving Kirk. 

“All of us, really,” she said. 

“I hear that,” he said, leaning down to kiss her hello. She touched his jaw lightly and shut her eyes for a moment. He smelled like French fries and that spicy Luke smell; it was like home to her now. 

He kissed her bottom lip lightly before turning to Rory. “Hey, Rory. You guys want pie?”

“Always,” Rory said with a grin. He touched her shoulder and retreated back to the kitchen. Lorelai couldn’t help but smile. 

“Man, you really are all in,” Rory said after a moment, voice soft. 

Lorelai glanced at Rory, then down at her coffee cup, smiling at her reflection in the dark steaming cup. “I really am, kid.”

*


End file.
